Woodbury's Thanksgiving Week Runs on Two Town Clocks, and Only One Was Set in September

The Town of Oyster Bay printed the dates for this year's Holiday Concert at Tilles Center in September, two months before the first curtain. The outdoor ice rink at Syosset-Woodbury Community Park, 7800 Jericho Turnpike, works on much shorter notice. Last year the Town announced the opening on November 21 for skating that started November 28, a seven-day lead.

Both are Town events, and they land in the same week, five miles of holiday traffic apart. A household in Woodbury can build Thanksgiving week around the concert now and slot the rink in later, since the rink has followed the same pattern for three years in a row.

The concert date has been fixed since September

The 2026 Holiday Concert runs Monday, November 23 and Tuesday, November 24 at 7:30 PM, with a matinee on Tuesday, November 24 at 2:00 PM, at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at LIU Post. Tickets go out by lottery, and applications closed Friday, October 23 at 4:45 PM. In its 2025 announcement, the Town called the concert free for residents as always.

That makes the next two weeks easy to read:

• Week of November 9: the Town mails tickets to lottery winners. The Town tries to give each winner their first-choice show but hands out seats based on availability, so check the date on the envelope before booking anything else that Monday or Tuesday.
• No envelope by mid-November: the Town's own fallback is the standby list. Get to Tilles Center about an hour before the show you want, add your name, and the Town seats standby guests as seats allow.
• Choosing a standby show: with three performances, there are three chances. The 2:00 PM Tuesday matinee is the only daytime show, which matters if anyone in the group would rather skip a weeknight drive home.

The concert closes out on Tuesday, two days before Thanksgiving. The next Town event in the week is the rink.

The rink keeps to the Friday after Thanksgiving

The Town's ice-skating page describes the outdoor season as running to March 1. The Town's 2026 outdoor rental application puts it more usefully: "OPEN THANKSGIVING WEEKEND THROUGH MARCH 1." The last three openings show what that means in practice.

All three seasons opened on the Friday after Thanksgiving. You can check the record in the Town's 2023 announcement, the Bethpage Newsgram's 2024 report, and the Town's 2025 announcement. Thanksgiving this year is Thursday, November 26, so the same pattern points to Friday, November 27. The Town confirms the exact day in its own announcement, and in the past two seasons that announcement went up on November 21.

The opening weekend also follows a set rhythm. Last year the Syosset-Woodbury rink and the Marjorie R. Post rink in Massapequa opened together. Public sessions ran 1–3 PM, 4–6 PM and 7–9 PM on Friday and Saturday, and 1–3 PM and 4–6 PM on Sunday. That was 2025's schedule. Use it as a guide until the 2026 times are posted.

When the 2025 rinks opened, Councilman Andrew Monteleone said in the Town's release:

"Ice skating is a fun activity for families and residents of all ages to enjoy, especially during the holiday season."

What the window charges

Admission is paid per session, and the Town's posted rates split residents from non-residents. Bring proper ID, since the Town requires it at the window. Current resident prices on the Town's ice-skating page:

• Under 2: free
• Ages 2 to 4: $5, compared with $7 for non-residents
• Ages 5 to 17: $7, compared with $10
• Ages 18 and over: $8, compared with $12
• Seniors 60 and over: $5 for everyone
• Veterans, volunteer firefighters and Auxiliary Police: $5, compared with $7
• Skate rental: $6 for everyone

With rentals, two resident adults and two school-age kids come to $54 for one two-hour session: $30 in admission and $24 in skates. For a non-resident family of the same size, the total is $68. That $14 gap is why the ID line matters when visiting relatives join the outing on Thanksgiving weekend.

If you're thinking about something bigger than a family skate, the Town rents the outdoor rink to groups at $325 an hour for residents and $425 for non-residents, with a one-hour minimum. Charters run only when no public session is scheduled. The Town takes requests at (516) 433-RINK, Ext. 8231.

Thanksgiving Day itself is the gap

In 2025 the Town calendar listed the rinks as closed on Thanksgiving Day, with skating starting the next morning. The outdoor season also depends on the weather. The Town's 2026 outdoor application warns that use can be cancelled because of conditions.

The Town's backup is indoors. It runs a separate rink at Bethpage Community Park that operates year-round, alongside its two outdoor rinks. Bethpage also hosts the Center Ice Café, which books birthday parties during public sessions with admission, skate rental and food included. For prices, call (516) 513-0021. To check on Woodbury before you go, the park's phone number is (516) 677-5990.

Before and after a session on Jericho Turnpike

Sessions last two hours and the rink sits on Jericho Turnpike, so the warm-up stop is just down the road. Joe & The Juice opened at 8025 Jericho Turnpike in Woodbury Town Plaza, in the former Gabby's Bagels space. It serves coffee, juices, shakes, flatbread sandwiches, wraps and bowls, as the LI Times reported in September. The Long Island Wave reported that the shop is open seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days, with shorter Monday hours. That covers a 4–6 PM session with time left over.

Further along the turnpike, The Granola Bar has a Woodbury location at 8285 Jericho Turnpike. MilkShake Factory's Woodbury page lists the same address, Suite 2B, with a "Coming Soon" label over its handcrafted milkshakes, homemade ice cream and gourmet chocolate. Long Island Press reported in June that the shop was headed to the Woodbury Common shopping center.

Sunday, December 6 brings the season to downtown Syosset

The first holiday Sunday after the rink opens has one more fixed event. The Syosset-Woodbury-Jericho Chamber of Commerce holds its Holiday Lighting Spectacular on Jackson Avenue in downtown Syosset on Sunday, December 6, from 3:30 to 6 PM. If Sunday sessions follow last year's pattern of 1–3 PM and 4–6 PM, a 1 PM skate at 7800 Jericho Turnpike ends with time to drive to Jackson Avenue before the lights come on.

Between November 9 and December 6, three dates are set: the concert, the mail-out of concert tickets and the lighting. The rink's date usually comes out in the Town's announcement a few days before Thanksgiving, and every year since 2023 the opening has landed on the Friday after.

When family arrives for the holiday and someone asks what Woodbury is like in winter, a rink on Jericho Turnpike and a free concert at Tilles Center make a good answer. If those visits get you thinking about a move closer to home, or a house with room for everyone next November, Nancy Rosen would be glad to talk it over with you. Let's Connect.